Homeschool Science

Last week we were studying weather, and the kids built rain gauges to measure the rain.  We put them out one night when rain was forcasted, and when we woke up, there was about 2 inches of rain in them!  (Hannah's shows less because she spilled it.) 

Last weekend we had a really hard freeze here in Austin, which is unusual to say the least. While driving around town we saw icicles hanging off limestone cliffs and houses, and frozen ponds and streams everywhere. We took pictures of this little water feature that was frozen except where the water was running. I wish we had stopped to take pictures of the cliffs--it was amazing.

Brussels Sprouts

Last night I served Brussels sprouts for dinner. As I put two little ones on Seth's plate, he let me know in no uncertain terms that he was completely offended. When I told him he needs to try them anyway, he said, "I told you when I was three that I don't like these!"

Who knew you could scar your children for life with sprouts?

Downtown Kansas City Adventures

Did you know that the Hallmark headquarters are in Kansas City? They also built a large mall next door called the Crown Center, which includes two large hotels, a ton of upscale shopping, all kinds of restaurants, and a covered walkway over to the train station. We spent the day with the kids and my family visiting the Hallmark Visitor's Center, the Crown Center and the Train Station, which has a Science Museum inside.

The huge gingerbread house display at the Crown Center:
The flagship Crayola store, which has a cafe next door:


View from the walkway of the train station:

Tunnel slide inside the Science Museum:

Two pull-yourself-up chairs at the Science Museum:

Sitting on the crocodile (or is it an alligator?):

Mini Golf:

Hannah riding the Sky Bike at the Science Museum:

Seth on the winding staircase around the treehouse:

Excavating dinosaur bones, wearing protective eye gear:

While We Were Out...

...our house went from this...

...to this!

Don't you just love that blue Texas sky???
(No polarizer was used to enhance the blueness of this picture.)

New Haircuts!

We meant to do this over Christmas, but it was just too busy. They wanted to fly home and have Amy do it!

"Ellie, open your eyes!"

"I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas"

The kids loved the snow that fell Christmas Eve. The snow was still on the ground when we left a week later. They played outside as long as they could stand it, because it was about 16 degrees outside. When Seth came in, (before the girls) he cried because his hands were so frozen that they hurt when they were warming up.

Hannah sitting in her "snow fort."

"'Twas the Night Before Christmas..."

We started the day with a visit to Sister Browning, who had just arrived at the Liberty Jail to start her mission. We loved visiting her, and were thrilled to wish her Merry Christmas!

Decorating the Gingerbread House with my sister, who came from Seattle to be with us for Christmas.

New Christmas jammies!

I hope your Christmas was as full of joy and love as ours was!

Church History Tour

While we were visiting my parents in Kansas City, we got the opportunity to visit some of the Church history sites and teach our children about some of the events that happened right there in the early days of the Church.

This is the marker for the original Temple Site in Independence, marked by Joseph Smith. It is currently owned by another church, the Church of Christ, which has a little building on the corner of the lot. As you can see from the sign they erected, they also claim Joseph to be the founder of their church.

The temple of the Community of Christ Church, which used to be called The Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. When they couldn't afford to finish it, our Church stepped in and helped them to pay for it. Inside there is a small museum which contains some of the things that belonged to Emma Smith, like her wedding ring.

Inside the Liberty Jail, where there is a really well done reenactment of the experiences of Joseph Smith and his companions.

Looking out over Adam-ondi-Aman. It's really just acres of fields. It's beautiful, and the kids found just enough snow on the ground to make snowballs.

This is the monument the Church has erected on the temple site at Far West. While it was a settlement in the early 1830s, there is nothing there now except this fenced temple site and a Community of Christ church building across the street. Down the road, an enterprising member has built a Church Bookstore, which we greatly enjoyed. There is no town there, just some farms. It amazes me that the Saints were so persecuted when they settled 70-100 miles from Independence, and even today there is nothing out there. But back then, it would have taken people all day to ride out there to bother them. Even today no one wants to live out there, and it is mostly farmland.

We really enjoyed visiting some of the places that Joseph Smith had actually been to, and places where he received revelation regarding the Church. Missouri is very interesting, and the Church does a good job of preserving the history for us.